Monday, February 25, 2008

If you pick up the latest issue of UTNE READER (March-April 2008, with that guy from 40 Year Old Virgin on the cover) I don't just have an article in the mag, the title they've given to the article appears on the front cover. Gosh. Nobody told me this was happening, of course. I just found out when a friend of mine who reads the magazine congratulated me on it. This is how the world of being a writer works. The piece itself is an edited excerpt from Sit Down and Shut Up (see ad to your left). It's on page 76.

Remember I'll be starting my class at Karuna Yoga on March 9th (Sunday) at 8 AM. Details and a map are linked to the posting below this one.

Again, those of you in the Atlanta area may want to know about the retreat I'll be leading at the Atlanta Soto Zen Center. That happens February 29th - March 2nd. Should be fun. If you like staring at walls for a very long time.

Gene paying for it ? Any rock star paying for it ? Unlikely. To paraphrase Paul Stanley (also of KISS): "When you're a rock star, to brag about your sexual conquests is like going to the sink and bragging about finding water."

One of Ben Franklins 13 virtues to live by is "use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation."I think this is a pretty similar concept as "dont miss use sex"He was way ahead of his time on many issues, not just the elect stuff.Im sure that if he were alive today, he would spend a share of his time sitting cross legged and staring at the wall.

I read your lates on SuicideGirls as well, and I enjoyed it. All semantics aside, your take on Zen and sexual misconduct is pretty-much on point. By that, I mean everybody's precepts and vows are different, my school's are different from yours and so on and so forth, but at the end of the day, if you've met a partner and you're both otherwise un-attached, consenting adults who trust one another than go for it, and actually BE THERE whilst your going for it. I agree with that.

In other words, don't just fuck that hot, nubile chick; fuck the HELL out of her! That is, if she has made the decision with a sober mind, is willing, and the both of you have reached an accord.

What Gene was doing, just didn't seem like, well, like much of anything other than an overly inflated ego stroking its self with the help of a female who may or may not have been paid for the disservice of viewing herself riding a seemingly disinterested narwahl on YouTube.

And don't even get me started on the Karma that may have brought her there in the first place if she was indeed being paid (we can't really speculate, we never saw $$$ change hands, but still)...

It was sad.

It reminds me of Bret Michaels and his Rock of Love show. There's Bret, eyeliner and all at almost 50 years old with a stable of women trying to find "love" because they desire love, and Bret, with all his desires as well.

Sad.

Anyway, you're the preiest, I'm just a student and I probably shouldn't be offering opinions about all this stuff. I'll just say that you hit the nail on the head, and leave it at that.

I realize Brad's a really busy guy, and there's a lot of stuff rattling around the old duder's brain. But from time to time I'm a little disappointed when HCZ seems like just a place to comment on SG articles, or more of an upcoming gigs notice board than a place to learn about and discuss Buddhism.

And I'm attached to revenge.

So, to respond to Chris Werner's post on his underwater archery blog -- I strongly disagree with all of his points.

And by the way, I'll be appearing at the Ralph's grocery store tomorrow. On Friday I've got a gig at the DMV. And two weeks from now I'm joining in a retreat in the mountains (aka "visiting my mom").

Gene Simmons aka Chaim Witz is 60 year jewish guy.He's paying for it. Those strap on , slap on , silly cone breasts are paid for. The fact that she keeps her shoes on and doesn't take off her dress off and he still has his shirt on says bbj and quick 1 pop and out the door in ten minutes written all over it. My grandma wouldn't sit on that guys face unless he paid for it and she's fine.Roman G believes all those rock stories. Give me a break. You've had a sheltered life sunshine.

anonymous:Roman G believes all those rock stories. Give me a break. You've had a sheltered life sunshine.

also I saw on brads porno blog that Roman G stated he whacks it 3 times a day. Hmmmmmm.Viagra?

Anonymous strikes me as a person who starts bar fights with his mouth and finishes them with his face hitting the floor. And he still doesn't have the cojones to back up his words with his name. Oh well.

"Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning."

the guy who posted the Gene Simmons quote said: "Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning."

Yes, Gene Simmons said this. But this was in relation to illegally downloading music. What it has to do with the sex thing, I have no idea.

I guess I'm willing to cut Brad a little slack--there is a strange 'limbo-ish' place when you re-enter life after spending so much time on a project -- whatever the creative venture is--when the play comes to the end of its run, the movie is 'wrapped,' the book not only gets written, but sold....re-entry can be an odd place.I'm glad he's got some sesshins to sit and and 0DFx gig to play at his alma mater.

I like what's happening on the Porno Buddhist blog, but I'd like a different name, I mean it's ok...but...In my work I don't dare overtly have anything that frankly smacks of sexuality--it could be the end of my job. So I'm flirting with disaster with such things in my bookmark bar as Suicide Girls, Hardcore Zen, Porno Buddhist...It's my own private laptop, not a company owned one, but still...it's risky. A full on investigation would vindicate me, but still....why would I engage in any risky behavior? That hasn't stopped me--and I believe that there is a whole sector of folks who are 'reached' by these very titles who otherwise wouldn't, so I think in the long run, it's ok.Maybe we could have a new name for the blog contest?

Although Simmons was once a rabbinical student, he doesn't follow any particular religion. In fact, he said he wasn't sure if there was a God or not. If there was, Simmons has said, what he did religiously was between him, God, and no one else.

As for Simmons paying for it or not paying for it: So what ? What does this have to do with any of US ?

As for Simmons paying for it or not paying for it: So what ? What does this have to do with any of US ?

What it has to do with us, is that Gene Simmons is us. We are that pig paying money for something we really probably don't need but we think we need to get anyhow. When you watch that video of Simmons doing his thing (or rather not really doing much) that should probably remind you that you too are being fucked by [insert_random_senseless_desire_here]

Assfaced,The Darkzen retard lives right there in Atlanta with you. Give him a call or drop by and see him. He is one Ardie Hollings aka zenmar. While I disagree with him on most issues, especially his embracing of the atman concept, the guy's actually extremely intelligent and knows buddhist sutras inside out.

The middle way lies between the extremes of "is" and "is not." If you say the truth is such and so, that's the extreme of "is." But if you say there is no truth, that's the extreme of "is not." Politicians have nothing to do with it.

My neighbor Grace Slick is also a member of AARP. She left the Jefferson Starship in 1988 at age 48. Following a brief Jefferson Airplane reunion and tour the following year, she retired from the music business. During a 1998 interview with VH1 on a Behind the Music documentary featuring Jefferson Airplane, Slick stated that the main reason she retired from the music business was that "all rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire. In a 2001 USA Today article, she said, "I'm in good health and people want to know what I do to be this way...I don't eat cheese, I don't eat duck — the point is I'm vegan..." However, she also admits that she's "not strict vegan, because I'm a hedonist pig. If I see a big chocolate cake that is made with eggs, I'll have it. "In 2006, Grace suffered an attack of diverticulitis. After initial surgery, she had a relapse requiring further surgery and a tracheotomy. She was placed in an induced coma for two months and then had to learn to walk again.

I bought "Sit Down" before a flight to Dallas to attend the funeral of my oldest daughter's fiancee. Bummer, for sure. It isn't a stretch to say the book is how I got through the hardest couple of days ever. I've studied Buddhism in various ways and with different groups for five years now, and it has been way too much an intellectual exercise than a genuine experience. Then I started sitting after I finished your book, and a lot has settled in my heart and soul. I guess I am trying to say, what you relate in "Sit Down and Shut Up" helped me finally make sense out of a spiritual path I had been trying to "pursue." Pursuing it by not pursuing anything at all makes a lot more sense than contemplating how well I am breathing through my nostrils. And so I am just freaking sitting every day, for at least 1 hour, sometimes 2. So, Brad, thanks.. thanks a lot...

And besides what's so great if your text are released in some shallow magazine? I didn't know you're after fame and your own ego.

Geez. You're losing it, man.

Wow, some people just can't cut Brad a break no matter what. It seems to me that the only ego issue here is Markus "Uku" Laitinen assuming to know Brad's intentions and that those intentions are somehow 'bad.'

The guy just wanted to say, "Hey, by the way, if anybody is interested I got an article in some magazine." That is not ego or a desire for fame; that is just letting people know they have an article in a magazine.

I have hips that are in pretty awful shape due to some childhood injuries - life is grand being a few weeks shy of 30 and having to start looking for doctors for possible hip replacement surgeries.

Anyhow, so I have always thought about taking up yoga in some attempt at improving flexibility and maybe get a few more years before I need hip surgery (again).

When I see pictures like the ones Mysterion posted I can think only of new-agey hippies wearing all white velour track suites and I sure as shit don't want to be involved with that. I guess short, chubby, white guys just do not have the some photogenic qualities as 'real' yoga practitioners.

Sorry about that. The reality is that most new students of yoga are 30 to 50 pounds overweight and that diet, exercise, stretching, and about two years (diet/exercise) are necessary to mitigate the wages of less optimal living. Don't be discouraged, rather, be somewhat patient with yourself and make little advances, day-by-day.

I was only hyping Brad's visit to the Yoga Center.... (Shameless Promotion Department)

And besides what's so great if your text are released in some shallow magazine? I didn't know you're after fame and your own ego.

Geez. You're losing it, man.

Wow, some people just can't cut Brad a break no matter what. It seems to me that the only ego issue here is Markus "Uku" Laitinen assuming to know Brad's intentions and that those intentions are somehow 'bad.'

The guy just wanted to say, "Hey, by the way, if anybody is interested I got an article in some magazine." That is not ego or a desire for fame; that is just letting people know they have an article in a magazine.

How is this a bad thing?

Damn you people. My post was sarcastic. Come on. I don't know Brad personally so how can I say things about him or what he's doing?

Gung Ho!A Marine colonel (Randolph Scott) and his hand-picked men raid Japanese-held Makin Island during World War II. Year: 1943

Scott's New Jersey accent was so thick he was sent to a language coach to overcome it and ofter over-dubbed thereafter! Randolph Scott, Rod Cameron, J. Carroll Naish and Robert Mitchum star in this saga based on the true story of 'Carlson's Raiders' in the Pacific during World War II.